I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical kits and, more particularly, to a dental kit containing the tools, medicines and supplies necessary for performing root canal therapy.
II. Description of the Prior Art
In root canal therapy, the nerve canals of the tooth are removed, sterilized and subsequently filled with an inert sealer in order to prevent the future infections of the tooth nerve roots. In order to accomplish this, it is essential that the entire root canal including the root tip, be cleaned and filled to eliminate all organic matter contained within the root canal.
The usual procedure in root canals is to open the tooth into the pulp chamber and then to work down to the root end. In order to gain access to the pulp chamber, a hole is drilled through the tooth and subsequently widened by a broach. When the tooth hole to the pulp chamber is sufficiently wide, reamers are used to clean out the tooth root.
When the tooth root canal debris is removed, it is important throughout the complete root canal operation that the various implements used to clean out the root do not penetrate beyond the end of the root and irritate the periodontal tissues. The length of the root is initially ascertained by the use of X-rays. Once the length of the root is determined, a rubber stopper is placed over each reamer so that the distance between the tip of the reamer and the stopper equals the distance between the top of the tooth and the bottom of the root. Since a plurality of reamers are used throughout the root canal operation, it has been the previous practice to individually measure and position the stoppers on the various reamers. The individual measurement and placement of the stoppers on the reamers is very time consuming.
Root canal therapy, by its very nature, requires a plurality of specialized hand held instruments, implements for working on the tooth, and medicines which are otherwise unused in dental work. Heretofore, it has been the practice for dentists to individually purchase the various instruments, medicines and supplies necessary to perform a root canal operation and to assemble these instruments and supplies on a dental tray when the root canal therapy is to be performed. Such a process, however, is disadvantageous not only in that it is time consuming but also since the dentist often times neglects to arrange a certain supply or tool on the dental tray necessary to perform the particular root canal operation. Consequently, when the omitted tool or supply is required, the dentist must interrupt the root canal operation in order to obtain the necessary tool or supply. Such interruption during the root canal operation is not only time consuming but is unprofessional in appearance.
Many dentists, furthermore, perform root canal operations in different examining rooms. Thus, it is necessary to either purchase all of the instruments and supplies for performing root canal therapy for each examining room, which is very expensive, or to carry the instruments and supplies from examining room to examining room as required, which is time consuming and generally inefficient.